Bowling-alley.



P. A. ROTH. BWLING ALLEY.

APPLICATION YILED JULY 3, 1908.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

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BOWLING ALLEY. APPLIQATION i'ILBD JULY s, 1909.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

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PHILIP A. ROTH, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

BOWLING-ALLEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 3, 1908.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

serial No. 441,891.

To all 'whom 'it may concern:

c Be it known that I, PHILIP A. ROTH, residing at Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, in the State of Wisconsin, have invented a new Bowling-Alley, of which the following is a specification.

M invention relates to improvements in bow ing alleys.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby a player may re-adjust the pins and cause the return of balls by actuating means operated from the approach to the alleys.

In the following description, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a bowling alley embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same as seen from that side on which the cables are located. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the rear end portion of the alley showing the pin supports and pits and the arrangement of the cables. Fig. t is a sectional view, on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3, and Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on the same line as Fig. 4, showing the pin supports and the adjacent portion of the pit and alley with some of the pins as they appear when down.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

The alley proper may be of ordinary construction, except that at its rear end it is provided with a triangular depression A having a movable platform B provided with openings E, three of which are circular in form and the remainder extend inwardly from the angular sides and from the apex in the form of notches. The walls of these openings are preferably beveled downwardly and inwardly to facilitate lifting the pins and the openings are somewhat larger in diameter than the'diameter of the pins. A bridging board a is secured to the frame at the bottom of the depression A in a transverse position and three hollow posts D are mounted upon this board in a position to pass throu h the three circularl openings E in the platform. A guide strip C is secured to the rear margin of the platform B and extends for a short distance laterally therefrom on both sides and beyond the alley frame. Another guide strip b is secured to the front end or apex of the platform B,

which end of the platform is supported by posts b3. This strip also extends laterally from the sides of the alley frame, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

Each of the posts D is provided with a slot at its upper end in a plane parallel with the longitudinal plane of the alley and each of these slots receives a downwardly projecting staple 7L in the bottom of a pin I-I, whereby the pins are supported upon the posts. The upper surfaces of the posts are flat and have a surface sufliciently wide to support the pins when the latter are in an upr1ght position.

The side walls of the depression A are provided with U bolts or staples g, which project, as best shown in Fig. 3, into positions for registry with the marginal openings E of the platform when the latter is raised. All of the pins except the three central pins which rest upon the hollow posts D, are connected with the supports g and are adapted to rest vertically thereon, when the pins are in set up position and each of the pins is secured to one of the supports g by means of a staple h, driven `into the bottom of the pin and interlocking with one of the staple shaped supports g. This staple h is in each of the pins slightly offset from the longitudinal axis of the pin, whereby said pin may be located upon the extreme end of the support g. Each of the pins is also linked by means of eye bolts or hooks f connecting the pin staples z. with suitable weights F, thereby giving to the pins a certain degree of stability upon their supports when in a raised position. The pins are, of course, arranged to project sufficiently above the surface of the alley proper to permit them to be struck and knocked from their vertical position on the supports by means of the balls, in which event they will drop from their supports on to the platform B and the hooks f will shift along the pin staples sufliciently so that there will be no tendency for the weights to restore the pins to an upright position. The pins may be reset in a vertical position, however, by lifting the platform B, this being accomplished by transmitting motion from a manually actuated lever P2, through the link rod S, lever P and cables N, one of which extends around a pulley M transversely across the alley and around the pulley M', both` branches of the cable N then extending over pulleys L and downwardly to the cross strip or bar C. Other branches of said cable are extended over the rst set of pulleys L on each side of the alley and downwardly to the cross bar whereby when the lever P2 is pulled forwardly, the platform B will be lifted at four points until the lower ends of the pins enter the openings E in the platform and the pins are guided by the platform into an upright position the platform serving as a resetting member. It will be observed that in its normal or depressed position, the platform is below the pin supports, so that when a pin is struck, ,it is shifted -into a position of unstable equilibrium with its support, and its own weight will then cause it to fall. This overcomes a serious difliculty heretofore experienced where resetting devices are secured to the pin, in that the resetting connections tend (on a uniformly level surface) to hold the pins in an upright position even when struck with suflicient force to shift them, but by moving the platform below the pin supports and making such supports merely of sufficient size to hold the pin in its normal position, it vis obvious that any shifting movement of the pin, if suflicient to cause an ordinary free pin to topple over, will also cause these pins to fall. The cables N are connected by eye hooks O2 with the lever P.

The side lboards Q of the alley frame are provided with slots R which guide the cross bars or strips C and in their vertical movement. A cable T extends from the lever P2 over guide wheels L2 to an eye bolt O attached to a movable section X at the rear end of the gutter. A cushion U is secured in a diagonal position across the ball receiving pit V, whereby the balls are deflected toward an opening W (Fig. 2) in the side Q of the frame, which opening leads into the gutter and permits a delivery of the ball to the movable section X. The movable section X extends about one quarter of the entire length of the alley and is hinged at its front end to the stationary gutter X2. The cable T is provided with a ring or hand grip Y, so that by pullin upon this grip, motion will be transmitte through the cable to raise the movable section of the gutter at its rear end and cause a delivery of the ball forwardly to the point of delivery. Posts Z located at suitable points along the gutter are provided with pulleys L2 adapted to support this cable T.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a bowling alley, the combination of an alley, provided with a triangular depression at its rear end, having its upper portion opening into a ball receiving pit, a movable platform in said depression provided with openings in its margins and central portion corresponding with the desired positions of the pins and slightly larger in diameter than the pins, supports for the pins extending from the sides and bottom of said depression into positions for registry with the platform openings, staple shaped links secured to the lower ends of the pins and loosely connecting the pins with said supports, weights linked to the lower ends of the pins, and means for raising and lowering the platform to Vpoints above and below said supports from the front end of the alley.

2. In a bowling alley, the combination of an alley, provided with a triangular depression at its rear end having its upper portion opening into a ball receiving pit, a movable platform in said depression provided with openings in its margins and central portion corresponding with the desired positions of the pins and slightly larger in diameter than the pins, supports for the pins extending from the sides and bottom of said depression into positions for registry with the platform openings, weights linked to the lower endsof the pins, and means for raising and lowering the platform to points above and below said supports from the front end of the alley.

3. The combination with a bowling alley provided with a depression in its rear end and a pit back of the depression, of a series of pin supports in said depression, means for loosely connecting the bases of the pins with said supports, a resetting member having apertures receiving saidsupports and adapted to embrace and reset the pins, and means for operating the resetting member from the front end of the alley, said member being adjustable to a normal position at a substantial distance below the upper surfaces of said supports.

4. The combination with a vbowling alley provided with a depression in its rear end and a pit back of the depression, of a series of pin supports in said depression, means for loosely connecting the bases of the pins with said supports, a resetting member having apertures receiving said supports and adapted to embrace and reset the pins, and means for operating the resetting umember from the front end of the alley, said member being adjustable to a normal position at a substantial distance below the upper surfaces of said supports, and having the walls of said apertures downwardly and inwardly beveled to facilitate resetting the pins when the platform is raised. n

5. The combination with a bowling alley provided with a depression in its rear end and a pit back of the depression, of a series of pin supports in said depression, means for loosely connecting the bases of the pins with said supports, a resetting member having ed to embrace and reset the pins, and means soV 990,296 sgi for operatin the resetting member from the Wardly therefrom alon said support and a ront ell o the allely, said member bbeing weighted member linke thereto.

a justa e to a norma position at a su stantial distance below the upper surfaces of PHILIP A' ROTH' said supports, and said pin connecting means Vitnesses:

comprising for each pin a member rigidly WM. GRINCKE,

connected with the pin and extending down- F. C. DOLL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

